The Doctor's Little Companion
by Waltzing on Paper
Summary: She was six years old when the Doctor came and saved her at the orphanage. Five years later, he appeared and saved her again. "I can come with you? Forever?"
1. The Orphanage

The Doctor's Companion

"_Now I'll have someone to care for"_ – The Doctor, "Last of the Time Lords"

1868

Kingsbury, London, England. 

It was an odd sound. Something that she had never listened to before. She could barely hear it from the bedroom window. She looked at the latch on the windowsill and tried to open it, but it seemed to be glued to the surface. She did not give up. When she was able to get the window open, the sound was slowly dying down.

_Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp!_ And then it died away. She pushed herself up onto the windowsill, but it was difficult. She was six years old, but she was tough. She was able to sit on the windowsill, but as she looked around, her hopes fell. There was nothing around. She had hoped for a miracle. She always did.

As she was about to slide off the sill, she saw a big blue box across the street by the baker. She had never seen it before. It looked awfully heavy. Then, the blue box's door opened and a man came out. She could hardly see him, but he wore one of those long brown jackets that she used to see in shops. The man started walking away, and left her sight.

Frances Edwards smiled sadly and climbed from the sill and looked back into the room. There were five beds inside the long room. The four beds already had small little girls sleeping. Frances walked silently to her own bed across from one of the windows and climbed under the scratchy white sheet and put her head on the firm pillow.

She laid there for the next several minutes until she was able to slow down her small mind to finally sleep. The blue box and the man were slowly forgotten, but the noise was still in her dreams as she fell into a deep sleep.

Five hours later, the screeching bell sounded throughout the orphanage. Frances gradually opened her eyes, and watched as the other girls hopped out of their beds and hurriedly began making their bed. They had gotten their eight hour sleep, but she had perhaps five. Slowly, she climbed off the bed and the other children were already dressed by the time she made her bed.

One of the nuns walked in, clapping her hands. "All right, children, downstairs into the Hall."

Frances quickly began to throw off her clothes and into her grey and white polka-dotted uniform dress. When she looked at the door, the nun was staring at her sternly, "Miss Edwards?" Frances took a deep breath, putting her wavy, dirty-blonde hair in a knot on her head.

"Sorry, Sister Victoria," Frances said, slipping on her black shoes and running to the door, getting in line with the other girls. "Won't happen again."

"I hope so, Miss Edwards, or it's the whip for you."

Frances's wide, light blue eyes looked down to the floor, hiding her face from view. She still was not used to the discipline and the rules at the orphanage. It had only been four months since she arrived. Only four months since her parents died in the fire inside the factory.

The girls started to move ahead of her, and she quickly walked to keep up with them. As they walked down the stairs, she looked around. Unfortunately, it was bad timing. When she stepped down, she accidentally missed a step and began to fall.

Before she hit the floor, something grabbed her.

"Whoopsy-daisy," the voice said as they hauled her up right. Her hair fell out of its knot, and pooled around her face. She looked to the voice and smiled. Her mother would say that he was a very handsome man, even more than father. He was pretty tall to six year old self, and very slim with dark brown hair, pale skin and dark brown eyes. His hair looked like it had not been combed, though. Usually, men would have styled their hair. Even her father did, and he had only been a factory worker.

He wore a sky blue shirt, with a tie and a dark brown suit over it with blue pinstripes, and then a light brown overcoat. She looked up into his eyes, and he was looking at her with an almost frightened look in his face.

"Saskia?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"What?" he shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

"For falling on you. I didn't mean to," she frowned, and looked down on the floor.

"Well, nothing wrong with that, is there? You all right, darling?" he asked her, patting her head, keeping his eyes on her. She looked back up at him and nodded.

"Yes, sir, I'm fine," and she quickly put her hair back up. The man stood back up, and followed one of the nuns into one of the office.

"Miss Edwards!"

Frances stood up straight and quickly walked back to the line with girls, only briefly looking back towards the man. He was still staring at her until he closed the office door behind him.

"She's gone, Sister Agatha. I don't know what happened. One minute I came in here and she was sleeping, and when I came in two hours later, she was gone."

"She has to be around here somewhere."

Frances had pretended to be asleep, keeping her eyes closed and holding her blanket close to her. She was listening to them by the door.

"But Sister, what about the others – "

"There have been no others, Sister Victoria." Sister Agatha said sternly, and they both walked out, whispering as they went.

Frances pulled off her blanket and sat up in bed. She looked around, and noticed that one of the beds were empty. It had belonged to seven-year-old Maisy Whitehouse. She was nice. Frances played with her in the gardens that afternoon. She had beautiful, straight, white, blonde hair. Frances was always jealous of it. Hers had always been wavy like her fathers.

None of the other girls had awoken to the noise by the nuns, she noticed, as she crawled out of the bed and walked to Maisy's bed. The blankets were tossed around the bed, as if she had been having a nightmare. Frances knelt down and picked up the pillow off the floor, putting it back on the bed.

Frances pulled down her white sleeves on her nightdress and looked back towards the door. She moved quietly towards it, looking right and left to make sure the nuns were nowhere in sight before she stepped out into the hall. She kept close to the wall and the shadows, listening closely.

A door closed downstairs, and Frances stopped.

"We're not sure, Father. It seems like she had a nightmare, and must have run off," Sister Agatha explained.

"A nightmare?" Father Simmons asked.

"Her blankets were thrown around her bed, and her pillow was off the bed. It looked like a nightmare, and she must have fled when she woke up, frightened."

"Just like the last three children?"

There was a soft silence.

"We believe so."

"Don't wake the others. Just search the school. I'll search outside for the girl."

"Yes, Father." The nuns left and the door to the gardens opened and then shut behind him. The nuns were leaving the Hall, towards the boy's quarters on the West Side. When she wasn't able to hear them anymore, Frances moved away from the wall and began walking again to the other girl's bedroom that housed the younger children.

Just as she was about to open the door, a hand came out, stopping her. Frances jumped back, and hit someone. She scurried away, and looked to who she bumped into.

"Sir?"

It was the same man from this morning. Except this time, he wasn't smiling. He was opening the door to the bedroom and looked inside for a moment before closing it.

"Hello, darling," he said to her quietly, "might you be able to show me the room where the other little girl was sleeping?"

"I'm sorry, sir?" she didn't understand. Who was this man?

"Someone disappeared tonight, is that right?" he asked her, and she nodded. "Where was she sleeping?" Frances pointed back to her bedroom door. "Well, let's go see, shall we?" he held out a hand to her and she took it without question.

"What's your name, sir?" she asked him.

"I'm the Doctor."

"A doctor?"

"The Doctor."

"Doctor."

"That's me."

They got to her bedroom door, and when he was about to open it, they heard a door open from below. The Doctor squeezed her hand, and she looked up. He was putting a finger to his mouth, just as the door downstairs closed.

"Wasn't in their either. Should we wake one of the others to help search for Miss Whitehouse?" Sister Victoria asked.

"The Father said it wasn't needed." Sister Agatha told her sternly.

"Yes, however, she is the fourth that has been missing in the last month. We can't keep telling the other children that they were taken in by a family member again. Miss Whitehouse's parents are deceased. She has no family. We must wake them."

"We should not disobey the Father. Now, go check the nursery. I'll check the kitchens."

"… Yes, Sister Agatha."

When they were gone, the Doctor seemed to be thinking to himself, nodding and shaking his head. Frances pulled on his arm, and he looked down at her. "Ah, yes." The Doctor opened the door to her bedroom and they both walked in quietly. Frances pulled on his arm and led him to Maisy's bed. "Is this her bed?"

"Yes, Doctor."

The Doctor examined the bed, even looking under the blankets. He was looking for something…but what, Frances wondered. He knelt down, looking at her. "Get behind me, darling," he whispered. Frances did as she was told, even holding onto the back of his overcoat. He slowly knelt all the way down and pulled the blankets away to look under the bed. "Hmm," he muttered, putting his hand under the bed and coming out with a piece of brown cloth. He put it up to his nose and smelled it. He pulled it away quickly, making a horrid face, "Yep, that's them all right. Don't know how many. Seems to be only one. It's a possibility that there might be two, but I can't be too sure. Four little children in a month. Usually, it's twice that much," he told Frances, and then noticed that she was looking at him with a confused expression. "Oh, sorry, darling. Minds running."

"What's running?" Frances looked around.

"Well…" he looked at her and smiled. "You might figure it out when you're old enough, darling. How old are you?"

"I just turned six," she said proudly.

"Old enough to know everything, is that right?" he said, but she just shrugged. "Hmm." He looked down at the piece of cloth in his hands and put it in his pocket of his coat. He got up, pulling her up on her feet as well. "Now, I think you need some sleep."

"No, Doctor. I don't sleep much."

"Well isn't that interesting. I don't either. Except when I regenerated this last time. I was sleeping for a while. Can't remember how long. Seemed like forever. Got some tea, though. Felt better after that."

"I like tea," Frances told him, smiling.

"Well, isn't that fascinating. We should have tea together sometime. Maybe when you're older. Where's your room?"

"Here, sir." She pointed to her bed, and when she pulled him over to it, he stopped her. Frances looked up, but he was staring at the closet door next to her bed.

"What's this?"

"We're not allowed to look. Sister Agatha said so. I think it has books," she let go of his hand and made her way to the bed and climbed back inside her covers, but was still sitting up. The Doctor still hadn't moved. "Doctor?"

"Have you looked inside, darling?"

"I promise I have not, Doctor." The Doctor nodded, believing her. He walked to her bed, and sat on it beside her. "Lay down," he said, fluffing up her pillow for her. She did, smiling up at him. "Are you comfortable?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"That's good. In the morning, I promise that everything is going to be all right."

"I'm glad. Can I come with you?"

"Oh, well…" The Doctor smiled down at her, scooting closer to her. "Maybe when you're older, how would you like that?"

"I do not like it here. It's scary."

"I am sorry, but where I'm going, children aren't allowed to come."

Frances frowned, "Why not, Doctor? You're very nice."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor told her, frowning sadly. "If you come with me, something bad will happen to you. I can't let that happen to someone again. It's happened too many times. And you're so young."

"I'm six," she argued.

"How does twenty sound?" he asked her, but she shook her head. "You're the youngest little human being to ask to come with me. But I can't. I'm so sorry."

Frances nodded, "Mmhmm."

"I'm sure someone's going to come for you soon. You're a really sweet thing, aren't you? You even remind me of someone."

Frances looked up at him, concerned. He sounded so sad to her. "Who?"

"I had a little sister once. She looked like you when I last saw her."

"Was she pretty?"

"Oh," the Doctor smiled widely, "beautiful. She could light up my life with just her smile."

Frances smiled, he looked happy now.

"Ah, I see you have one too."

"One what?"

"The smile."

"So, are you my big brother?" Frances asked him. "I've never had one. Just a mummy and a daddy."

"And where are your mummy and daddy?"

"They're in Heaven."

The Doctor put a hand to her forehead, smoothing out her wavy hair from her face. "I'm sorry. You'll see them someday, but not too soon." She nodded, and he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I should get going. I need to save some lives."

Frances nodded. "I'll see you soon," she said, closing her eyes. "Goodnight, Doctor."

"Goodnight darling."

A few minutes later, Frances opened her eyes and frowned. It was hard to sleep. There were so many things on her mind. She looked at the closet by her bed, and then turned her head to look at the bedroom door where the Doctor had left too. The other girls were fast asleep. They weren't able to see the Doctor. She had felt special in that moment. But where was he now?

Frances frowned sadly, moving her legs out from beneath the blankets and over to the side of the bed. Just as she was about to stand up on her feet, something grabbed her feet. Frances screamed. She pulls her feet back up, but whatever is holding onto her is too strong. She looks around at the other girls in the room, but they are still sleeping. She screams out their names, but they don't wake up.

She grips the blankets and the headboard, but she falls off the bed. Right before she would have gone under the bed, she grabbed one of the bed's foot posts. Frances screams her heart out, but her fingers were slippery, and her fingers were leaving the post too fast.

But, then, she wasn't scared anymore.

The Doctor was there.

He took her small hands in his and pulled her and pulled her. "It's ok," he kept saying to her. "You're all right." And then, the hands on her legs were slipping, and then she was in the Doctor's arms. Small tears were coming out of her eyes, but she kept her arms around the Doctor's neck and tried to stop her trembling.

The closet door opened. The Doctor held her tighter, but not tight enough to keep her head turned away.

It looked like a man with a brown cloth over his head, but if she had asked the Doctor, he would have said that it wasn't a cloth, but it was actually his head. His lower body looked normal, just wearing a brown robe that she had seen monks wear in pictures that she had seen in the Church and windows. But when she looked at the hands and feet of the man, she cowered. They were all bone.

"You're not alone," the Doctor told her, over and over until she stopped trembling. But then the man moved forward, and held out one of his bony hands towards her.

"These children are not allowed to be taken. They're protected. They will never be lonely again."

The man stops, but doesn't move from his spot. He was five feet in front of them.

"Darling, tell him."

Frances slowly looked up at the scary man, and whispered, "I'm not alone."

"No you're not."

"Never ever," she said. "I've got the Doctor."

"You sure do, darling."

And then the scary man stepped back into the closet, with the door closing behind it.

"Ah, you're brilliant, Frances Edwards," the Doctor sat down on the bed, with her on his lap. "Simply brilliant."

"What was that, Doctor?" she pointed to the closet.

"It was a monster called a Sarronco," the Doctor explained.

"Oh. Is it coming back?"

"Nope. It went bye-bye for a long time. You'll never see it again."

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Oh, it was nothing, Frances Edwards. Now," he picked her up and onto the bed, laying her head on the pillow, "I think you can finally get some sleep. What do you say?"

"Maybe. Will I see you again?"

"Well, I did promise you tea," the Doctor smiled widely.

Frances helped pull the blankets up to her chin, and asked him, "Can you sing to me, Doctor? My mummy always sang to me when I went to sleep."

"Anything for you, darling."

Frances grabbed his hand and closed her eyes.

_Sounds of the real universe,_

_Heard in the day,_

_Have all passed into nighttime._

_The Doctor will watch over thee as you sleep._

_Beautiful little child,_

_Sleep, my darling, sleep._

_The Doctor will keep you safe._

_Lullaby, lullaby,_

_Sleep, my darling, sleep._

In the morning, when everyone was down in the Great Hall for breakfast, Frances looked around her. No one was missing.

She didn't see the Doctor, but she was holding onto that promise that she would see him again. He was going to take her to tea, he said. Frances looked back at the oatmeal and glass of milk in front of her and tried to smile. She had fourteen years to go. Hopefully it was not that too long.

The bell rang for morning service. Everyone got up from their seats, and Frances followed. She was the last one out.

_Wait_… Frances stopped.

_Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp!_

Ignoring Sister Victoria's shouts, Frances bolted from the line of children and made her way outside into the gardens. _Vworrrrp! _Frances turned and turned, but she couldn't find it.

_Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp!_

Frances ran further and further into the gardens, far enough that she saw the street. There it was. The blue box.

And it was disappearing into thin air.

_Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp!_

Then it was gone.

Authors Note: Well, tell me what you like and what you don't like. Hope there's more of the former! Song might be a little cheesy, I know, but I couldn't help to have the Doctor sing her to sleep. Sounded to cute to pass up.


	2. 1873

Inside the TARDIS

"Ah, 1926. Such a good year," the Doctor said, powering down the TARDIS. He stepped behind him and grabbed his brown overcoat, pulling it on. "Rather chilly, I believe." He slipped the TARDIS key into one of the many pockets and opened the door to the outside. He stood in the doorway, looking out.

He had landed in a flower garden, beside a long stone walled fence, which belonged to a large country estate. It was beautiful. Roses, tulips, carnations…every flower imaginable surrounded the TARDIS. However, just as he stepped outside to look further, the door closed in front of him, throwing him back inside and onto the ground.

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed, looking at the closed door. It wasn't but a second later when the TARDIS started up without his assistance. The Doctor quickly stood up and ran towards the controls, but whenever he would try and touch the controls, he would be shocked. "Hey, hey, hey!" he shouted. "What are you doing? I was going to have a lovely stroll!" However, the Doctor couldn't help but slowly smile. It was a while since the TARDIS controlled their travels together.

The TARDIS powered down. The Doctor set his hands on the railing and looked at the door, then around him. "And what is it now?" he asked the TARDIS. He shook his head and went to the door, and opened it.

1873

Winchester, London, England 

It was only a couple of weeks ago when the orphanage had unfortunately had to put her out on the streets. At eleven years of age, Frances Edwards was not allowed to stay in the orphanage any longer, even if she did not have family. She was now an orphan on the streets. It had been awfully hard on her. When her parents were still alive, she had bread, butter, tea, and even on some days instead of the usual potato soup or stewed ox-cheek, they would have bacon or chicken, especially when her father was given the raise when he became one of the supervisors at the wood factory. It had been glorious. On her sixth birthday, her parents were even able to buy her a beautiful vanilla cake from her favorite bakery down the road.

But then came the horrific morning when she was taken out of her day school to the police station where she was told that her parents had died and if she had any other family members? Frances was then taken to the orphanage, St. Joseph's Orphanage.

She was there for a little over five years. Her time there was not happy and glorious, but she wasn't alone. She was able to make a couple of friends, and unfortunately, they were either taken away when they were eleven, given back to a family member when they were able to take care of them, or Frances herself had to leave them at the orphanage. Then there was the unfortunate time when one of her friends died of a high fever. That was three months ago.

Frances was able to scrape by for the couple weeks she's been alone. She had met some nice older boys who had given her three apples last week. Then, she had stolen bread from a two-story window when it was dark and she wasn't seen only a few days ago. Water wasn't that hard to get to for her. There were a lot of older women who would give her a small bottle of water now and then.

However, sleep was far harder to get by. For the first couple nights, she stayed awake. She was able to find a couple of newspapers, and her Bible from the orphanage that she would read over and over to keep her mind going. She grew too tired though, and finally, on the third night, Frances went to sit under a tree in the cemetery when she fell asleep. She was woken up seven hours later by the groundskeeper, who shooed her off the cemetery. The next time she wanted to sleep, she was able to find a few slightly older boys who let her sleep beside them in an abandoned building by the sewers.

That was where she had spent last night, but something had happened in the morning. The older boys were being too friendly. She fled them this morning, running away from them with fear in her eyes and a heavy heart. Frances ran around today, and finally had to find somewhere to sleep. The running was exhausting and the worrying had made her tired more than anything.

Frances held her shawl closer to her, trying to ward off the chill. It was after midnight and she had been running for almost seventeen hours straight. Frances moved towards the cemetery where she had first tried to sleep. She stayed close to the shadows, and tried to see if anyone was around. When she saw no one, she relaxed her shoulders and kept on walking. It was only a few seconds later when she nearly fell into an open grave. She let out a small scream, and stumbled onto the ground, looking down at it. But her fright soon turned into curiosity. It wasn't an open grave. Although there was a tombstone in front of it, marking it as Abraham Stockton, who died well over a hundred years ago, there was still a hole that went further than six feet. Frances couldn't even see the bottom.

With more strength than anyone her age, Frances tied her shawl around her neck, and made sure her hair was away from her face with a small tie. There were parts in the ground wall that looked like handles. It looked like an adventure.

Maybe something like the Doctor would venture into.

With no reasons not to, Frances slowly crouched down and put her feet on one of the handles inside and began to step down into the darkness of the grave. With each step, Frances grew more scared with the lack of light. She had never been scared of the dark when she was living with her parents, but at the orphanage, she was.

There were times when the boys and girls would be able to play outside together, and sometimes the boys would grab a girl and lock them in a cupboard on the highest floor. That happened to her more than anyone else, mainly because she had punched one of the boys early during one of her "captures". They were in the cupboard until dinner time, which was usually two or three hours in complete darkness.

A few minutes later, Frances finally touched the bottom. She let out a deep breath and turned around. It was very odd. The bottom was all soil, but there was a tunnel in front of her that was made of some kind of silver metal. With more courage than her little body could handle, Frances walked through the tunnel. She touched the wall as she went through, feeling the cold, hard metal.

Then there came a sound. It was a very odd sound to her ears. As if it was some kind of made up language, like some children pretended when they were very young. But this was hoarse, not like a sweet child's voice. Her curiosity got the better of her and Frances stepped closer to where the sound was coming from. But then, she was too close.

They were huge, hulking creatures who looked her way. They looked like over-sized red and brown lizards. What was the most odd about these creatures was that they wore some kind of rags for clothing. Frances stepped back, but they made another noise and followed her every step.

"Ex…" she took a deep breath. "Excuse me for intruding."

They still followed her, giving her malicious looks.

"I'm leaving. I won't tell. I promise!" She spouted off. They four looked at each other and seemed to talk to each other, but they continued on. Frances quickly turned her back and ran back to the handles and crawled back up. When she was able, she looked behind her to see that the creatures were running to her. Frances screamed, scrambling up the steps to the grassy ground above. She ran a few steps away from the hole, just waiting. It only took a few seconds to see that the creatures were already coming out.

She screamed, frightened for her life.

"Help!" A face flashed into her mind. A man with a long coat and brown hair, holding out a hand to her.

However, no one was around, and if they were, they were busy with their own troubles. The times were quite different than the stories she was read to as a child. Frances looked back as she headed for the alley she frequented. They might have been only fifty feet from her, and they were going faster than her. They had long, strong legs and she was barely eleven years old who had lived in an orphanage for over five years.

She almost stopped when she heard it.

_Vworrrrp…_

To her right… No, her left. Without looking back, Frances stopped and turned into one of the few shopping districts. No one was out because of the late evening, but a few drunkards were cajoling themselves outside of a bakery, but they took no notice of her or the massive creatures that ran after her.

_Vworrrrrrp… Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp! Vworrrrp!_

Frances's eyes widened. There it was. The blue box that had been burned into her memory since she had seen it disappear five years ago. She slowly began to stop running, until she was only feet from the box. Unfortunately, the creatures were already upon her, and the box had just stopped making its noise and stood right in front of her.

"No! No!" Frances screamed herself hoarse. "DOCTOR!" Their claws held tightly to her arms and neck, pulling her back. She fought and fought, and looked at the creatures. Big tear drops fell from her eyes as she was pulled away from the box.

No one noticed when the door opened and a young man walked out, wearing a blue suit with red pinstripes and a tie. He had his hands in his pockets and was looking at the scene with mild amusement.

"Now this is great!" the Doctor said, smiling.

Frances stopped struggling when she heard the voice, and the creatures stopped trying to pull her away, but they did not let go of her.

"I haven't seen you guys in years. Why here in this little town?"

Frances shivered in fright when the creatures began speaking back to the Doctor.

"I suppose so, but that girl there is not what you are looking for."

The creatures began to speak back to him, squeezing her arms tighter, but the one on her neck loosened.

"Look at her!" the Doctor exclaimed, pointing towards her. "She's just skin and bones anyway. What would you want to do with her? Doesn't look too tasty either, does she? I believe you can find something more tempting in ten to fifteen years on this planet."

Frances was finally able to be put back on the ground, but one claw still held tight to her.

"That planet would do well. Might even check for Pharckul. Big massive things there," the Doctor finally stepped out of the doorway of the box and began to walk towards them. Frances pulled on her hand, wanting to go to him. He was safe. She knew that. "Now, if I believe right, you must have somewhere to go underground and get this all taken care of. I'll just take this mangy little thing off your hands, and you can be on your way without any difficulty!" The Doctor smiled down at her and she wrenched free from its massive claw and ran and tripped on her feet, landing on the ground in front of the Doctor.

She didn't dare look back, but after a few more haunting noises from the creatures, she heard them run off.

The Doctor kneeled down to her level, smiling down at her. She tried to smile, but her eyes were still teary, and the looming danger that she had been in was still fresh in her mind.

"Didn't I specifically tell you when you were twenty that I would take you for tea?" the Doctor asked. "You do not look a day over ten."

Frances let out a small chuckle, shaking her head. "Eleven."

"Old enough for tea," he stood back up and held out a hand to her. She quickly took it and he was able to help her up. She wobbled for a second, but didn't let go of his hand. "I have a great fondness for tea. Come on in," he gestured to the door of the blue box.

Without any hesitation, Frances walked ahead of him and stepped inside the blue box. As soon as she walked in, she stopped. The Doctor had to move around her and closed the door.

"It's bigger –

"On the inside than on the outside."

" – than I thought." Frances looked at him, confused. The Doctor chuckled. "What is it?"

"It's a TARDIS," the Doctor explained, going forward to the control manual in the middle of the room. Frances slowly followed him, her eyes not able to look at a single thing for more than a few seconds.

"What is a TARDIS?"

"It means Time and Relative Dimension in Space," Frances stared at him in total confusion. "It's a time machine." There was a bit of silence from Frances, and when she was about to speak, the Doctor continued, "This machine travels places."

"What kinds of places?"

"France, Italy, the Great Wall of China." Frances mouth opened in wonder. "Have you ever wanted to go to places like that?" she nodded excitedly. "What about in one hundred years?"

She smiled, shaking her head, "I can't. I'll be gone before then."

"That's what you think," the Doctor went into another room while she continued looking around at all the instruments around the control panel. He came back a minute later with a white tea set. "Milk and sugar?" he asked, setting it down on a table.

"Yes, please." Frances watched as the Doctor poured her tea and took it from him when held out to her.

"If you could go anywhere, no matter the time, where would you want to go?" the Doctor asked, pouring his own tea and sugar.

"I'm not sure. Somewhere peaceful, I think."

"Hmm," the Doctor contemplated.

"Not much to go on, but I think I can do it." The Doctor took a few sips of his tea and then put it back on the tray.

"Do what?" Frances asked.

"Take you somewhere peaceful." The Doctor then took the tea seat and went back into another room, leaving Frances standing there by herself with her tea cup in her hands.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?" he called out, and a second later he walked back in.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor moved to the control panel and began pressing buttons and pulling things. When he started hitting things with a hammer, she scurried over to him and cocked her head. "Doctor?"

"Hmm? Yes?" he asked, completely in a trance as he powered up the TARDIS.

Frances was going to ask what he was doing again, but then she lost her footing when the TARDIS moved. The cup in her hand fell onto the floor and her eyes widened, "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. She heard the familiar _Vworrrrp! _sound and she began to smile.

"No, no, happens all the time." The Doctor said, moving towards her and taking her hand. "Hold on to this pole. Don't move. It'll be over in a second."

"Over?" she asked, but then the TARDIS moved again and again, and the Doctor just continued to smile and run around the control panel, hitting things and pushing buttons.

And then the Doctor stopped when the TARDIS was quiet.

"Here we are!"

"Where, Doctor?" she let go of the pole and the Doctor took her arms and tugged her to the door and pushed her through.

She was arrested by the sight of the sea. It was so much water. The sky seemed so clear. Clearer than the smoke-filled skies at home. She stepped further outside, surprised at the sand at her feet. Frances kneeled down and took a handful in her hands and let it slide through her fingers. She slowly began to smile, and then she heard the Doctor some up beside her and she looked up at him.

"Where are we?"

"In Norway. We're at a place called _Bad Wolf Bay_," the Doctor replied. While she was smiling, he was looking out with a half-smile. She stood back up and took his hand.

"I've never seen so much water. Can we go look?" she asked.

"Well, of course!" he squeezed her hand and then pulled her along as they both ran towards the water. They didn't stop until the Doctor tripped and they both fell face first into the water. Frances was laughing when she sat up. For the next twenty minutes, they played in the water. They both splashed each other, and then ran after another, playing tag. Finally, the Doctor stopped and went to lie down in the sand. Frances followed him after a while, trying to wring out the water in her long curls.

"Have you been here before?" Frances asked, yawning and closing her eyes as she lay down beside him. It was a while before the Doctor answered her, and it was a sorrowful tone.

"Once before. Worst day of my life."

Frances opened her eyes in a silent shock, "Why did you come here?"

"A few years ago, I lost someone…someone dear to me," the Doctor said. "I last saw her here. We had to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry," she frowned. "Where is she?"

"In an alternate universe, I call it Pete's World."

"Alternate? What's that mean?" she sat up on her elbows,

"Well, my little companion, its like," he drew two lines in the sand, "this is our world, our timeline. Do you know what that means?" she nodded. "And this is the same world, but there are different things about it. Like it could mean that Queen Victoria could have never been born or something such. Same people, but different lives. There could be another Frances Edwards in that world, that line, but she could be completely different than you are. Her family might not have died in a fire and taken to an orphanage."

"Can we go see?" her eyes had widened when she heard about it. However, the Doctor shook her head. "Then how did your friend get there?"

"It was an accident, but I fixed it. She'll never be able to come back to this world."

"You'll never see her again? But that's not fair."

"A lot of things are not fair, don't you agree?" he ruffled up her hair and stood up. "So, now, what do you think? Did you like this adventure?"

"Very much!" she bounced on her feet, smiling.

"Then how would you like to be my companion on my voyages?" he asked her.

"I can come with you?" he nodded. "Forever?"

"When you're old enough to know what you want."

There was a long silence from her, and she turned away to ask her final question, "I asked you last time if you were my big brother. Can you be?"

The Doctor started to frown and began to open his mouth to tell her something in the negative, but then when he saw her big blue eyes start to tear up, he changed his mind, "I think we can arrange that. We can be a little family in the TARDIS. How do you like that?"

"I like that a lot!" she jumped in his arms and hugged him.

"This is going to be fantastic!" he hugged her back, holding her and twirling her around in a circle, hearing her laugh.

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews and favorites! You guys are awesome. I never thought that my story would have so much views! I hope you like this chapter as much as the first one!


	3. 2027

Authors Note: Here's chapter two! Please tell me what you think about it

2027

London, England

"Welcome to London," the Doctor said opening the door and taking her hand and pulling her outside. He turned around to lock the TARDIS up, but then set her in front of him and waved his hand around her. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"They're so different." Frances watched as the people walked around, not even noticing the TARDIS right beside them. "I know that!" she pointed to the Palace of Westminster where the clock, Big Ben, was located. It said it was 3:15 in the afternoon. "It looks different though."

"Probably cleaner," the Doctor laughed.

"I can see the sky more. There's no smoke."

"You can even breathe more clearly, I believe. If you stay in 1873, you wouldn't have seen your fiftieth birthday. Not a lot of people did in your situation. But here, in 2027, you can live up to a hundred if you took good care of yourself."

"Can I be nine-hundred, like you?" she looked up at him from behind her and smiled.

The Doctor stopped smiling, but looked around him and nodded, "You can try if you want. I'll take good care of you, though, so you never know, huh?"

"Because you're my big brother now."

The Doctor smiled, "Yes, I am. Now," he pulled on her hand and they began walking around. "Are you hungry? They've got anything you can imagine. Pasta, hamburgers, seafood… What are you hungry for? I bet you haven't eaten much of anything since the tea and biscuits this morning."

"I don't have any money," she swung their hands back and forth as they moved forward into the crowds.

"I'm taking care of you, little darling," the Doctor told her.

"What should I do?"

"Do for what?"

"You?"

It took him a few moments to answer, "Keeping me company, for as long as you can."

Frances smiled, "That's easy, because I really like you."

"Really, really?" the Doctor asked, helping her swing their arms to and fro.

"Uh-huh," she nodded.

"As a matter of fact, I like you as well, Miss Frances Edwards. Now, let's get you something to eat. I know a great place with fish and chips. Do you like fish and chips?"

"I have never had it. Is it good?"

"The best."

The Doctor and Frances ate their food as they walked around; looking at all the shops and the Doctor even bought a few things for the road, such as a bucket of chocolate, which Frances had drooled over on her first bite. They were going back to the TARDIS when a young man stepped in front of them and handed Frances a yellow pamphlet.

"Don't leave London until you've seen the zoo, little girl. Best attraction in town!" he said and hurried, off handing out more pamphlets to other people. Frances looked at the pamphlet and looked up at her Doctor.

"What's that mean?" she handed him the pamphlet and when he read it, his brow furrowed and an angry look came upon his face.

"Pettigrew's Zoo of Aliens…" he trailed off, looked at the address on the bottom of the pamphlet and then crumpled it up in his hand and threw it to the ground. He took Frances's hand once more and said, "Looks like we're going to take a little detour back to the TARDIS. You don't mind, do you?"

"Are they allowed to do that?" she asked.

"They certainly are not. Come on," he began running in the direction of the address, making sure Frances was close and in no harm. When they got closer, he slowed down and Frances was glad of it. She was great at running, but for a solid ten minutes, she was getting really tired. "Here we are."

Frances looked up at a large, old, brick building. Across the large doors in front was the name of the establishment: _Pettigrew's Zoo of Aliens_. A few people were already walking, one was a small child, maybe six or seven who was pulling their parents inside with an excited smile on his face. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

With his free hand, he pulled a pad of paper out of his coat and handed it to her. "This is called psychic paper. If I tell someone that I'm the President of America, it will say that on that paper. It's helped me out on a hundred problems like this. They're quite fun. I met Queen Victoria because of this."

"You met Our Queen Majesty?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, it was quite an adventure…" he trailed off with a smile. "Now, let's go inside. Get some of this straightened out, hmm?" he said, squeezing her hand and pulling her inside. He walked right up to the ticket master and flashed the pad of paper at the man, "John Smith, Department of Health Services," he quickly put the pad back in his coat.

"W-would you like to speak to the director?"

"No, I'm just going to look around."

"Right and…"he looked down at Frances.

"My sister, Frances. Has a fascination with these aliens, so I brought her along. That's all right with you, isn't it?" the Doctor pulled out his glasses, put them on and looked at the ticket master with an accuser look.

"No, no, of course not. Go on ahead."

"Thank you." The Doctor and Frances moved forward into the large hallway. There were many clear glass doors around the circular room. In the middle of the room were stations of toys, food, and drinks. There were even banners that had different pictures of aliens. "This is wrong." He kept saying.

Frances was also looking around, but it was mainly at the clear doors that everyone was mainly crowding around. She slowly let go of the Doctor's hand as she moved towards one of the doors. On top of the door, it said "Sycorax". She moved closer to the doors just as a group of people moved away. She moved to the glass door and looked inside, and her eyes widened at the creature inside.

It was a skinless humanoid and he was wearing mantles of bone. It was only wearing armor around him, and even a red cape. The alien looked right at her and she knew that from the look on his face, he was angry. "Hello," she said softly. The Sycorax looked away from her.

"I thought most of you died," the Doctor moved next to her, kneeling and looking inside the small room where the alien was seated on the floor. The Sycorax looked up at the voice, its eyes growing in size. "Hello."

"Doctor," the Sycorax said, in a whisper.

The Doctor's own eyes widened and moved further to the door, nodding. "How did you come to be here?"

"The humans came to the destruction of our ship. I was the only survivor. Several other aliens were also being held against their will, where they brought me."

"How long have you been captive in this building?"

"Three years."

The Doctor shook his head, "I'll get you out of here, I promise." He stood up and took Frances's hand and pulled her along, looking at all the other names atop the many doors, such as "Skullion", "Hath", and "Vinvocci" were only a few of them.

"What are you going to do?" Frances asked him, stepping closer to him as a group of people entered the building.

"Free everyone."

"How?"

"First," he squeezed her hand and smiled down at her, "we need to speak to the director of this place. Want to talk to him? I know a good idea. Want to hear it?"

"Yes, please. I want to help them too. They're scary, but they look sad."

"That's my girl."

Frances knocked on the door titled "Director". She heard movement from the other side and then the door opened to her. An older man with full, white hair looked down at her in confusion. He said nothing and looked to the desk to the right where his secretary had just been, but who had vanished. He then smiled down at her and asked, "I'm sorry, little girl, but I'm very busy. Can you run to your parents and be a good girl?"

"No."

"I bet they're looking for you right now. Why don't you go and enjoy the zoo?"

"But Mr. Pettigrew, I'm here to talk to you." Frances said, sticking her bottom lip out.

"Come back with your – "

"My brother will be here in just a moment, he's just looking at everything and making sure everyone is all right."

Mr. Pettigrew raised an eyebrow, "Is that right? Making sure who is all right?"

"The people in the cages."

"They're not people, little girl. They're called aliens. And they are in rooms, not cages. They're not animals."

Frances shook her head, "No, no. My brother doesn't like that, though. He's not happy right now. You're going to get into trouble, sir."

"Not trouble, per say," the Doctor came into the room with his glasses on, looking at official papers in his hands. "Mr. Pettigrew, is that right?"

"I am. Who are you, sir?"

"John Smith, from the Department of Health Services." He held out his psychic paper to him, and quickly put it away. "I was told to come by and see if there was anything that needed looking at. And you see, I'm glad I was told to come by. There are a lot of irregularities in your business, here. A lot. Not the right food for the aliens, even right water."

"And how would you know of this, Mr. Smith?"

"Papers," the Doctor pointed to the papers in his hands, but didn't let Mr. Pettigrew look at them when he held his hand out. "It looks like I'll have to tell the upper authorities about this. I don't think they would want to think that your establishment was hurting anyone. But it is."

"Uh-huh," Frances nodded.

"And what do you propose, sir?" Mr. Pettigrew asked, letting them into his office. Frances sat down on the couch, getting comfortable while the Doctor sat on the chair closest to the desk. "I get millions a year just for keeping this place on the market. One of the greatest tourist attractions there is in England."

"Well, it looks like we'll need to take the aliens here and take them to…to our place and make sure they're all right. Physically, you see. Have you got a doctor here to check in on them?"

"As required by law."

"Does he have any…Uh, alien expertise?"

"Of course not, at least, not when we hired him on board."

"I've spoken with a few of the aliens in the cages, and – "

"Those are not cages, they are their rooms. When we are not open, we darken their doors and let them be on their own for the night."

"According to the handbook, they are too much like a cage and not a room. You should begin to remodel as soon as possible. Closing your establishment tonight for a few weeks should – "

"When I get an official letter from the Department of Health Services, I will close to better it, but not before the letter, Mr. Smith. I thank you for the suggestion, however."

The Doctor looked over at Frances, who was looking at the man with some confusion. While no one was looking, Mr. Pettigrew's computer started up and for a second it popped up with a pretty young woman with blonde hair, silently shouting for something, someone. No one noticed it.

"If that's all I can do, then good day, sir. My Department will be with you shortly to speak with you, in the next day or so." The Doctor stood up, and took Frances' hand and they both walked out. When they were out of the building, Frances stopped them.

"Why is he so mean?"

The Doctor frowned, "Sometimes, the people I try to protect are just ruthless and mean, Frances."

"You mean humans?"

"Yes, I do."

"How can other people think that it's funny and good?"

"Sometimes, they are confused. They were put into this world to think that anything that doesn't look like them are different. And, well, usually different constitutes as bad to many people." The Doctor replied. He took her hand and they both walked out, back to the TARDIS.

When they stepped inside, the Doctor sat down in the chair and Frances sat beside him on the floor, fingering the iron floor.

Several minutes passed without any conversation until the Doctor stood up, screaming "Yes, I got it! Perfect. Why didn't I think of it before? It's just too easy! Yes, all right! What time is it?" he looked at his watch and nodded. "Almost time!"

Frances remained sitting on the floor, looking at him, waiting for instruction.

"Frances!"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I need you."

The Doctor wasn't surprised to see that the whole building was deadlocked from intruders. Mr. Pettigrew was simply human, but if he was clever enough to capture all the creatures and aliens, then he would have to have known about other things as well. He scaled the building, leaving Frances at the front so she could watch the front door to see if it would open or not.

After five minutes of checking every cranny and nook, the Doctor finally found something of interest. It was a small opening on the bottom, from probably the attic. It was not deadlocked, but he wasn't able to fit through the small opening. He called out for Frances, who was close enough to hear him. She came running to him, holding tight to her jacket. It was getting colder here in January.

"Can you do something for me, darling?" he asked her, sitting on the cold, ground floor. Frances sat across from him and nodded. "Do you think you can fit through here?" Frances looked at the small opening.

"Yes, Doctor."

"Brilliant. Here," he handed her his sonic screwdriver and she looked at it with great confusion when she took it from him. "When you go through here, you're going to have to find stairs to the next floor up. You'll need to find the room where we found Mr. Pettigrew. When we were in there this afternoon, there was a big box behind his desk, by the window. Press this button, and make sure that this dial is at 450. Aim it at the box." Frances kept nodding. "The door should open and I'll come get you, all right?"

"And we save everyone?"

The Doctor smiled at her, "Of course."

"Ok," she put his sonic screwdriver in her jacket pocket and he helped her through the small opening. There was a small drop, but she landed on her feet. The Doctor was on his stomach, looking inside to make sure she was all right. "I see stairs," she called out.

"Good, go up them and do what I said, all right?"

"Yes, Doctor."

The Doctor stayed there until he could no longer hear her small footsteps, and then a door opened and closed behind her. He jumped up from the ground and ran all the way to the front door.

Frances had shut the basement door behind her and moved to the middle of the room, where all around her were the cages of the creatures. She gripped the sonic screwdriver in her hand and took a deep breath before silently and carefully moving towards Mr. Pettigrew's office. When she got to the door, it was locked. She looked behind her at the door and bit her lip. The Doctor wouldn't be able to help her right now. Frances brought the sonic screwdriver to the doorknob and put it to the dial he told her, hoping it would at least open the door for her. She had it there for only three seconds before the door clicked and she was able to open it. She quickly stepped inside, heading towards Mr. Pettigrew's desk. She instantly saw the black box on the wall. She made sure it was on the right dial and it was a while before there was a click.

Frances only waited a few seconds before rushing out of the office, bumping into the Doctor as she left. "All right?" he asked her, righting her.

"Uh-huh."

"Sonic screwdriver?" he asked, and she immediately put it into his hand. "Let's do this, then."


End file.
